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in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English revers , from Anglo-Norman revers , Middle French revers , and their source, Latin reversus , perfect passive participle of reversō , from re- + versō . Doublet of revers .
Adjective
reverse (not comparable )
Opposite , contrary ; going in the opposite direction.
We ate the meal in reverse order, starting with dessert and ending with the starter.
The mirror showed us a reverse view of the scene.
Pertaining to engines , vehicle movement etc. moving in a direction opposite to the usual direction.
He selected reverse gear.
( rail transport , of points) To be in the non-default position; to be set for the lesser-used route.
Turned upside down; greatly disturbed.
( botany ) Reversed.
a reverse shell
( genetics ) In which cDNA synthetization is obtained from an RNA template.
Antonyms
( antonym(s) of “ rail transport ” ) : normal
Derived terms
Translations
having the order of its constituents moved backwards
Bulgarian: обратен (bg) ( obraten )
Finnish: käänteinen (fi) , päinvastainen (fi)
French: inverse (fr) m or f
German: umgekehrt (de)
Hungarian: fordított (hu) , megfordított (hu)
Italian: inverso (it) m , invertito (it) m , ribaltato (it) m , opposto (it) , rovesciato (it) , al contrario
Japanese: 逆の (ja) ( gyaku no ) , あべこべの (ja) ( abekobe no )
Ottoman Turkish: وارون ( varun )
Polish: odwrócony
Portuguese: reverso (pt) , inverso (pt) , invertido (pt) , contrário (pt)
Romanian: invers (ro) m or n , răsturnat (ro) m or n , inversă f
Russian: обра́тный (ru) ( obrátnyj )
Spanish: ( adverb ) al revés , ( adverb ) en sentido contrario , reverso (es) , inverso (es) , contrario (es) , opósito ( United States ) , opuesto (es)
Vietnamese: ngược (vi)
causing movement in the opposite direction
of points: to be in the non-default position
Adverb
reverse (not comparable )
( now rare ) In a reverse way or direction ; in reverse ; upside-down .
1963 , Donal Serrell Thomas, Points of Contact :The man was killed to feed his image fat / Within this pictured world that ran reverse , / Where miracles alone were ever plain.
Synonyms
Noun
reverse (plural reverses )
The opposite of something.
The act of going backwards ; a reversal .
1808 , Charles Lamb , Specimens of the English Dramatic Poets Who Lived About the Time of Shakespeare :By a reverse of fortune, Stephen becomes rich.
A piece of misfortune; a setback .
1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley , “The Revolt of Islam. ”, in Shelley , editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. , volume I, London: Edward Moxon , published 1839 , →OCLC , page 192 :And the cold truth such sad reverse did seem As to awake in grief from some delightful dream.
1936 , Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art , London: Long, page 156 :Simon Forman was notorious in his day, and was a many of many reverses .
1990 , Peter Hopkirk , The Great Game , Folio Society, published 2010 , page 309 :In fact, though the Russians did not yet know it, the British had met with a reverse .
( numismatics ) The tails side of a coin, or the side of a medal or badge that is opposite the obverse .
The side of something facing away from a viewer, or from what is considered the front; the other side.
The gear setting of an automobile that makes it travel backwards.
Synonym: reverse gear
A thrust in fencing made with a backward turn of the hand; a backhanded stroke.
c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare , “The Merry Wiues of Windsor ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio ), London: Isaac Iaggard , and Ed Blount , published 1623 , →OCLC , :but first , master see thee pass thy punto , thy stock , thy reverse , thy guest
( surgery ) A turn or fold made in bandaging, by which the direction of the bandage is changed.
( graph theory ) Synonym of transpose
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
side of a medal, badge, or coin opposite the obverse
side of something facing away; opposite of front
gear
Bulgarian: задна скорост f ( zadna skorost )
Dutch: achteruit (nl)
Finnish: peruutusvaihde (fi)
French: marche arrière (fr)
Galician: marcha atrás f
German: Rückwärtsgang (de) m
Greek: όπισθεν (el) ( ópisthen )
Hungarian: hátramenet (hu) , rükverc (hu)
Italian: retromarcia (it) f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: revers m
Nynorsk: revers m
Portuguese: marcha à ré (pt) f ( Brazil ) , marcha a ré f ( Brazil ) , ré (pt) f ( Brazil ) , marcha-atrás f ( Portugal )
Spanish: marcha atrás f , retroceso (es) m ( Venezuela ) , reversa (es) f ( Central America, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico ) , riversa f ( Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico ) , revosh m ( Panama ) , reverso (es) m
Swedish: back (sv) c
Vietnamese: số de
turn or fold made in bandaging
Etymology 2
From Middle English reversen , from Anglo-Norman reverser , Middle French reverser , and their source, Latin reversō , from re- + versō .
Verb
reverse (third-person singular simple present reverses , present participle reversing , simple past and past participle reversed )
( transitive ) To turn something around so that it faces the opposite direction or runs in the opposite sequence.
to reverse the order of books on a shelf
to reverse a portion of video footage
( transitive ) To turn something inside out or upside down .
1672 , William Temple , Essay on the Original and Nature of Government :A pyramid reversed may stand upon his point if balanced by admirable skill.
( transitive ) To transpose the positions of two things.
( transitive ) To change totally; to alter to the opposite.
All trends reverse eventually.
c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio ), London: Isaac Iaggard , and Ed Blount , published 1623 , →OCLC , :Reverse the doom of death.
1815 February 24, [Walter Scott ], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. , volume (please specify |volume=I to III) , Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown , ; and Archibald Constable and Co. , , →OCLC :They reversed the conduct of the celebrated vicar of Bray.
( obsolete , intransitive ) To return , come back .
( obsolete , transitive ) To turn away; to cause to depart.
( obsolete , transitive ) To cause to return; to recall.
( law ) To revoke a law, or to change a decision into its opposite.
to reverse a judgment, sentence, or decree
2020 April 8, “Network News: Emergency timetables and the number of services cut”, in Rail , page 15 :From March 30, LNER was running around 40% of its trains and had suspended its Aberdeen, Inverness and Hull services, although it reversed the latter decision after Hull Trains suspended operations.
( ergative , transport ) To cause a mechanism to operate or move in the opposite direction to normal; to drive a vehicle in the direction the driver has the back .
1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine , page 54 :Richardson dropped into the six-foot between the two engines, ran for a few yards, grabbed Mitchell's engine, and swung himself up. Mitchell had got to his feet by this time, but he made no move. Richardson shut off steam, reversed her, and brought her to a stand.
( chemistry ) To change the direction of a reaction such that the products become the reactants and vice-versa.
( rail transport , transitive ) To place (a set of points ) in the reverse position.
( rail transport , intransitive , of points) To move from the normal position to the reverse position.
( aviation , transitive ) To engage reverse thrust on (an engine).
To overthrow; to subvert.
c. 1699 – 1703 , Alexander Pope , “The First Book of Statius His Thebais ”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope , volume I, London: W Bowyer , for Bernard Lintot , , published 1717 , →OCLC :These can divide, and these reverse , the state.
a. 1729 , John Rogers , Conformity to the World destructive of our Happiness :Custom [ …] reverses even the distinctions of good and evil.
( computing ) Short for reverse-engineer .
2011 , Eldad Eilam, Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering :Reversing is also heavily used in connection with malicious software, on both ends of the fence: [ …]
2012 , Christopher C. Elisan, Malware, Rootkits & Botnets: A Beginner's Guide , page 117 :[ …] but in some instances where malware is proving to be difficult, reversing is needed.
Antonyms
( antonym(s) of “ to turn something in the opposite direction ” ) : unreverse
( antonym(s) of “ rail transport ” ) : normalise / normalize ( transitive and intransitive )
Derived terms
Translations
to turn something inside out or upside down
to transpose the positions of two things
to cause a mechanism or vehicle to operate or move in the opposite directions
chemistry: to change the direction of a reaction
rail transport: to place points in the reverse position
rail transport, of points: to move from the normal position to the reverse position
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
Verb
reverse
inflection of reverser :
first / third-person singular present indicative / subjunctive
second-person singular imperative
Anagrams
Latin
Participle
reverse
vocative masculine singular of reversus
References
Middle English
Adjective
reverse
reverse : turned upside down; greatly disturbed
Romanian
Pronunciation
Verb
reverse
third-person singular / plural present subjunctive of revărsa
Spanish
Verb
reverse
infinitive of rever combined with se
inflection of reversar :
first / third-person singular present subjunctive
third-person singular imperative